President Theodore Roosevelt seemed indestructible, but an ill-fated expedition into the Amazon
jungle nearly cost him everything. Born in 1958 in New York City, Theodore Roosevelt was the son of a wealthy, long-established
New York family. We're talking back when old New York was once New Amsterdam
Yet, as he grew older, it became all too clear that the boy had fragile health
Young Theodore was undernourished and beset by frequent fevers and respiratory issues
Most infamously, he suffered from intense asthma attacks that left him terrified and
struggling for breath. Generally speaking, being outside could trigger more asthma attacks, but for Theodore, the trips
to the outdoors to get fresh air really sparked a love for wild spaces in the sciences. And while
confined to bed, Roosevelt was able to engage his mind, becoming a bookworm who consumed tales of
heroic masculine figures such as Ivanhoe and Robin Hood. As Roosevelt aged, his asthma seemed
to fade into the background. Roosevelt himself said that his dedication to regular exercise was
the key to his improved health. Modern science today backs it up, so he was way ahead of the
curve there, yet he continued to deal with occasional asthma attacks as an adult during
periods of intense stress. Roosevelt began studying at Harvard in 1876, where he met Alice Hathaway Lee
The two married on October 27, 1880. By 1882 at the age of just 24 years old he was serving as a New York state legislator and by 1883 the two were expecting their first child while planning an idyllic summer home on Oyster Bay Long Island
He seemed to have everything. Alice gave birth to a daughter, also named Alice, on February 12, 1884
Teddy was away in the state capital of Albany, but on February 13, a telegram carried the news that his wife's health was deteriorating rapidly
He rushed home and arrived the next day. That's Valentine's Day if you're following along
There, he discovered a double horror. His beloved mother, Martha, had died earlier that day of typhoid fever in the same house in which
mere hours later, his wife, Alice, too, died of an inflammation of kidneys
Teddy shortly took to his diary, but only wrote that, "...the light has gone out of my life," and marked the page with a black X
A later entry recounted the union between Teddy and Alice, with Roosevelt writing
"...we spent three years of happiness greater and more unalloyed than I have ever known
fall to the lot of others." After the deaths of his wife and mother, Roosevelt left for property he owned in the Dakota
territory. Mostly, he was just getting away from everything. Pain, the politics, all of it
Though he found time to write three books as well, and when he finally returned to his political ambitions, his time in the West gave him a new manly image that boosted his career
"...now he could say he was a cowboy." But it came at a cost Roosevelt destroyed letters that mentioned his deceased wife Alice and refused to speak of her for the rest of his life His young daughter Alice grew to have a complicated relationship with her energetic and famous father When he remarried to Edith Kermit Caro in 1886 Alice found herself
competing for attention with Teddy's growing new family, a likely motivation for her hell-raising
behavior and oftentimes sarcastic personality. After his second marriage, Roosevelt seemed to
find new vigor for life, basically returning to the East full-time and becoming the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy. He left that office to serve as a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American
War, and gained a masculine heroic image for leading the Roughriders Cavalry Regiment in the
Battle of San Juan Hill. As a Republican, he then proceeded to win the election for governor of New
York in 1898. In 1901, he ascended even further up the political ladder, becoming vice president
as part of William McKinley's administration. Yet, Roosevelt was hardly excited about the job
When McKinley was elected, he grumbled to a reporter, saying, This election tonight means my political death. He was pushed into the infamously
powerless role by New York Republicans who had found the boisterous, reformed-minded man troublesome
You see, McKinley's vice president, Garrett Hobart, died in office. So when McKinley needed
a new VP on his re-election ticket, the power brokers decided they'd just bury Roosevelt in
that meaningless position and be done with him Yet party chairman Mark Hanna was still nervous reportedly exclaiming Don any of you realize there only one life between that madman and the presidency Mere months into the administration Hannah was proven all too right In September an assassin shot McKinley while the president was attending the Pan American
Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley's abdominal wound became infected, and he died
on September 14. Roosevelt suddenly became the nation's youngest ever president at age 42
Roosevelt's subsequent term was successful enough that he won the 1904 election on his own
He was able to make a name for himself, make an impression, and accomplish a great deal wherever he landed
Theodore Roosevelt's life was marked with periods of deep depression, as well as periods of boundless energy and activity
A 2006 study published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease suggested that Roosevelt may have had bipolar disorder
However, the medical world's understanding of mental health is very different now than it was during Roosevelt's life
So this is still speculation, as obviously no diagnosis was made while he was alive
Still, a history of the Roosevelt family includes quite a few cases of apparent mental health struggles
Theodore's brother, Elliot, dealt with substance abuse and may have taken his own life
Theodore's son, Kermit, was highly accomplished and productive and also experienced depression
and alcohol abuse and took his own life in Alaska in 1943
Daughter Alice may have exhibited manic symptoms of bipolar disorder, while her daughter Paulina